DEBT FINANCING OF PUBLIC COMPANIES UNDER MACROECONOMIC VOLATILITY

Abstract

The paper examines the specific features of debt financing of public companies under conditions of macroeconomic volatility. Approaches to understanding the role of debt in capital structure are generalized, and the influence of changes in the macroeconomic environment, interest rates, credit spreads, and refinancing risks on corporate financial decision-making is analyzed. The study's information base consists of open data from international institutions and financial platforms, including the IMF, the Federal Reserve, the ECB, the OECD, and the World Bank. It is established that in 2025-2026 debt financing of public companies functioned not in a regime of capital shortage, but rather in a regime of capital repricing. The study demonstrates that the main pressure on corporate borrowers was driven by the high baseline interest rate, stronger pricing differentiation across issuers of different credit quality, and the growing importance of refinancing previously incurred liabilities. It is substantiated that even while maintaining access to capital markets, the cost of new debt for public companies increased substantially, whereas the effectiveness of debt strategy became increasingly dependent on the maturity structure of liabilities, credit rating, the share of fixed-rate debt, and the ability to manage liquidity proactively. The paper's scientific novelty lies in combining theoretical generalization with a quantitative analysis of contemporary international data to explain the transformation of the debt-financing mechanism of public companies in a macroeconomic instability environment. The practical significance of the results lies in their potential to improve the financial policies of public companies in the areas of debt burden management, refinancing risk management, and capital-raising source selection. The proposed study may be useful for scholars and analysts in corporate finance, international financial organizations, public authorities, banks, and companies in the real sector of the economy. Further research will focus on developing applied models to optimize the debt strategy of public companies with respect to credit ratings, debt repayment schedules, and responses to changes in interest rates.